MARFA, Texas -- A state agency has ordered the removal of a 40-foot high sculpture of the iconic Playboy bunny logo recently erected on a pasture a mile west of Marfa along a stretch of U.S. Highway 90.

The Texas Department of Transportation has given Playboy Enterprises 45 days to remove the large-scale neon-lighted sculpture dubbed Playboy Marfa, according to a brief statement issued by Veronica Beyer, TxDOT's director of media relations in Austin.

"The agency has ordered the property owner to remove this sign because the owner does not have a Texas License for Outdoor Advertising and a specific permit application for the sign was not submitted," Beyer said. "Furthermore, the location at which the sign has been placed does not qualify for a permit."

Officials representing Playboy said the company has not violated any laws and will try to resolve the TxDOT concerns.

Beyer's statement also said: "TxDOT is treating this case like any other when someone has placed an outdoor advertising display without an active license and permit, and in an area that does not qualify for such permits."

Lineaus Lorette, a certified public accountant in Marfa, initiated the complaint against Playboy Marfa.

"I thought it was a sign -- a corporate logo. And in Texas you can't put up signs without permits," Lorette said. "I checked and it didn't have a permit so I filed a complaint."

Lorette pointed out in a phone interview that some Marfa residents were unhappy that Playboy used Marfa, often described as a mecca for artists and other creative people, to market itself.

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"I was really ambivalent. It's a beautifully made sign," Lorette said. "The problem is that it's a sign. The rules have to apply to everybody."

The project involved New York contemporary artist Richard Phillips and Neville Wakefield, identified as Playboy's creative director of special projects.

PR Consulting, a firm representing Playboy, issued the following statement:

"We do not believe that the art installation by Richard Phillips violates any laws, rules or regulations. Our legal counsel is currently looking into this matter and we hope to resolve this issue satisfactorily and as quickly as possible."

"I find it amazing that it didn't get stopped along the way by someone," he said

Playboy Marfa has been the talk of the far West Texas town and in social media since the Big Bend Sentinel weekly newspaper in Marfa broke the story on May 30.

Playboy Marfa, completed in mid-June, was billed as an art installation that also features a blacked-out version of the classic 1972 Dodge Charger perched on a tilted concrete platform.

Playboy Enterprises Inc. declined at first to comment on the sculpture. Marfa is about 195 miles southeast of El Paso.

In a June 20 press statement, Playboy said Phillips would "spend the next several months reimagining the classic car through his artistic lens. His interpretation of the Dodge Charger will be revealed at the end of 2013."

Playboy has indicated the art installation is temporary.

Wakefield, commenting on the decision to locate the sculpture near Marfa, said: "As both an all-American roadside town and an art world mecca, Marfa occupies a particular place in the popular imagination.

"Marfa provides the perfect backdrop to launch an artist car collaboration with one of America's most iconic brands."

Landis Smithers, creative director at Playboy, described the project as "an indication of our commitment to creating moments that appeal to a younger, culturally engaged generation of men and women."

"As we reinvigorate Playboy through art and culture, Marfa was deemed the ideal location to reiterate to the world our commitment to art and design as it relates to the lifestyle Playboy represents today," Smithers said.

A group of Van Horn students recently stopped after sunset to admire the roadside sculpture.

"It grabs your attention because it's so big," said Daniel Quintana, 17, a senior at Van Horn High School. "What's better than girls and a muscle car?"

Alberto Tomas Halpern, a Big Bend Sentinel reporter and photographer, flushed out the story from public documents after receiving a tip that Playboy Enterprises had applied for a Presidio County permit to light the neon sign.

Playboy Marfa received national attention including mentions in Salon.com and the Huffington Post plus various online art blogs after Halpern published the story.

"The story mostly turned into how secretive they were," Halpern said recently. "They had an agreement that the New York Times would have the exclusive. Unfortunately for them, those reporters are in New York and not Marfa."

A Texas Monthly magazine reporter was recently in Marfa, inquiring about the art installation, often compared to Prada Marfa, a sculpture resembling a high-fashion boutique. Prada Marfa was erected in 2005 along U.S. 90 just west of Valentine, Texas.

"Playboy Marfa is still gaining attention," Halpern said before TxDOT made Playboy Marfa's future uncertain. "People are talking about Marfa, so that works."

Not all the locals think that planting a giant-sized Playboy logo next to a muscle car on a platform in the far West Texas desert is a great idea.

Lonn Taylor, a historian who lives in nearby Fort Davis, suggested in his weekly column in the Big Bend Sentinel that Playboy Marfa is more of a corporate Playboy advertisement than legitimate art.

Taylor once worked for the Smithsonian Institution. He is widely respected across Texas and the United States.

"It is the ugliest and most offensive structure that I have seen for a long time," Taylor wrote in "the rambling boy" column in Marfa's newspaper.